Monday, August 13, 2012

AMSTERDAM Part 1

We started our trip by visiting Zaanse Schans also known as The Windmills. It's a collection of vintage windmills and all of the windmills house different artisans - things that the Dutch are known for such a cheese and ice cream.

It's a TOTAL tourist trap but it is really pretty and worth a trip if you're visiting Amsterdam.

Me and the Windmills :)

Do my shoes look familiar? Haha these are the pink Prada's I revealed last week here! I love them! They sort of look like pink flowers on my feet hahaha..

They had a rec center in the front where you got to try different Dutch toys and contraptions.

Everything was so picturesque like something out of a storybook!

They were walking around in clogs!!!! SO COOL!!! I wonder if your feet get really sore after awhile haha

Clogs for the doggies!

Tehehehe :)

Clogs galore!

Big clog! :)

They had real cows, goats and various other animals just grazing and walking around no fence or anything it was pretty neat!

Sunbathing in the middle of a tourist trap. #that.is.so.awesome. muhahahah!

Kinda reminds me of Solvang no? Hahaha if you've visited the little Danish village in California.. it feels very similar but this is much much bigger.

I adored this gelato truck!!!

MIFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFY!!!

Turns out Miffy's from The Netherlands! haha I didn't know that before we visited here.

Our hotel!

It's located right in the heart of Amsterdam literally right behind Dam Square. It's an excellent location and I highly highly recommend this hotel if you are visiting. There's a couple of Inntel hotels in Amsterdam so make sure you pick the one in the city center. It's a bit small but to be fair all European hotels are much smaller in comparison to their American counterparts but you seriously cannot beat the location of this hotel. As soon as you walk downstairs you are immediately greeted with restaurants, cafes, bars, clothing boutiques and it is only 2 or 3 blocks away from the Amsterdam train station and less than a 10 minute walk to the Ann Frank museum and Red Light district. And there's a couple of "special" coffeeshops if you know what I mean haha on the same street as our hotel. Although I heard that after this year the "coffeeshops" will be banned for tourists and only locals will be allowed to purchase!! I wonder how that will affect Amsterdam's tourist industry because it felt like when we were there EVERYONE spoke english and their were sooo so many Americans. And that they were there for one very obvious reason hahaha.

The inside of the hotel is made to look like you're walking on the street!! So cute right?! haha they even have like lamp posts and other things painted on the walls. Which I forgot to take a picture of. #badblogger #blogfail hahahahaha

It actually says "You'll be surprised."" hahaha

Even sewer covers!

Our hotel room door! Adorable right?

Hotel products.. one of them was a packet of bath crystals which I thought was a nice touch :)

Very tiny room but it was very clean and orderly.

The view from our room on the right side!

The view from our room on the left side!! This was pretty spectacular :)

Hotel lobby bar

I don't know why I really love random fireplaces that come out of tables. I know it's totally cheesy but I cannot help but love the cheesiness factor.

Our hotel opens up to this street which is right behind Dam Square.

Manneken Pis and yes it is named after the famous Brussels statue of the little boy peeing haha.

I wouldn't say Amsterdam is a culinary mecca like say Belgium or Paris is but they do have a lot of "munchie" type eats (for obvious reasons) everywhere and this one was one of the more famous ones.

Muhahah do you see the guy cheesin' in the back hahaha.

The portions are hugeeeeeee!

This was a small and we ordered mayo and ketchup on top too.

They charge by the toppings here. Even ketchup! The fries in Netherlands are big and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They are also deep fried twice. Oh yeah. hahahahaha.

Amsterdam train station in the back!

Dam Square

One of the many many picturesque canals in Amsterdam

Papadums w/ a trio of dips

Indian food!

I love love Papadums and I especially love the accompanying sauces. I have a weird love of all things dip/sauce related hahaha. The green one was like a pureed cilantro dip and was AWESOME, the white one was a savory yogurt sauce and the reddish one was some kind of fruit chutney I didn't eat that one much because it was too sweet for me.

Hubs trying out Indian beer for the first time! COBRA! muhahah

Lentil Soup

This was delish! I love lentils (actually now that I think about it I don't know why I don't eat more lentils because they are NOMS hahahha sorry for the side bar ahahahaha). Anyways this was a pureed lentil soup and inside they had huge chunks of indian cheese!! YUMS!

Din Din!!

We ordered a set meal and it was awesome I ordered the Chicken Tikki Masala and The Hubs ordered the buttered chicken and they both came with buttered naan, basmati rice, two different veggie curries, a fresh salad and tandoori chicken!! It was really delicious!

And this is totally random and off topic but I really enjoy eating compartmentalized food BAHAHA!!

Our meal also came with desserts!

On the right is Indian rice pudding which was yummy and on the left is a type of Indian ice cream known as Kulfi and it was AMAZZZZING!!! OMG! Where has this been my whole life hahahaha!! I think it was flavored with pistachio and almonds and it was so delicious! It has a milky creamy taste and the texture is almost like ice not really ice cream so it was very interesting experience. And it was very very refreshing especially after eating curry!

i love all the windmills! everything definitely looks like pictures straight out of a storybook! and i was thinking that the place looks similar to somewhere i've been to before, and then you said solvang, so i was like, "yeah, it looks like solvang!". ;D

Amsteradm!!!!!! Gorgeous and beautiful there! I have been to Solvang in CA and it's a charming little town :D I have to ask u... are u travelling all over Europe for work or is it just very close by to Germany that u can go here for a weekend? :) Looks like a ton of fun!

your pictures are gorgeous! the food looks amazing!!! i am a huge fan of indian food so those pictures are making me super hungry right now. and the ice cream.. it looks very interesting.. lol. for a good second, i was trying to guess what it was without reading it. hahaha

AHH!! i just got back from amsterdam!! i missed you! darn! haha hope you had a great bday though! you look adorable and the coffee shops were totally my favorite part if you know what i'm saying hahahaha

It really looks like a postcard there and I love the windmills - tourist traps or not! Thanks for the cute hotel recommendation as well!Mmm papadum is addictive as well. I got sick my last 2 times in India and am now sensitive to some food, but not papadum!